Herring 6

Back when the castle was still standing, the garden that stretches from Søndersti to the large white house functioned as its apple orchard. The white house was for many years a judicial office, and now houses a local insurance company.

Stege formerly had two churches. Saint Gertrud's church was built east of the town, which was really quite small then, in the place where the parking lot is now located (on the other side of the former judicial office). Hence, the street after the parking lot which leads to Gåsetorvet, is called Saint Gertrud Street.

The church was very wealthy, but after the 1536 reformation, it started to lose its riches. In the 1600s, the church almost descended into ruins. In 1679, after the wars with Sweden, one could hardly see that there had ever existed a church. So, using the ruins from the crumbling church together with 1800 Rix-dollars donated by the king, the chancel of the current Saint Hans church was expanded. Saint Gertrud, the patron saint of travellers, was once feted by many small statues on the road sides. Now they were no longer being maintained and preserved. Hence the proverb ‘Saint Gertrud has lost her shine’.